Share This Story!

Exclusive video: Science behind 'Carrie' blood soak

When you're taking on a remake of Stephen King's Carrie, you know you have to get one scene right. The scene where newly-crowned prom queen Carrie finds herself finally in the spotlight became a instant

When you're remaking Stephen King's Carrie, you know you have to get the bloody prom scene right.

The moment when newly crowned prom queen Carrie White (played by Sissy Spacek in Brian DePalma's 1976 film) found herself humiliated with a bucket of blood dropped on her head in a prank became an instant classic. Carrie cranked up her telekinetic power and pop-culture history was made.

In remaking the film with Chloe Grace Moretz as Carrie, director Kimberly Pierce knew she had to perfect the blood-soaking scene. This exclusive clip from the Blu-Ray and DVD package, released Tuesday, shows just how much energy was put into nailing it

"It was a huge science to get the dump right," says Pierce. "We did tons of research and development."

This clip shows a number of the filmed test dumps performed by the stunt crew in their research. Pierce figures there were 50 blood dumps — "each was more hideous than the rest."

The shot had to be done right because the director knew if it went wrong with Moretz while filming, it was a day of shooting blown. On the day of the big shoot, tension rose as the final pre-test failed.

"Right before we bring (Chloe) in, we test it on the double and it completely misses," says Pierce.

But the shot with the star worked perfectly. As did an alternative shot done the next day. Sections of both scenes were used in the final film.

All told, Pierce figures the crew used about 1,000 gallons of fake blood to remake Carrie, 500 just to test the blood dump. That's five gallons of blood used in 50 bucket dumps. But it was worth it.

"Pretty much everyone who has seen (the scene) has liked it," says Pierce.